Handfish

Handfish

Taxobox


name = Handfishes
fossil_range = | fossil_range = fossilrange|55|0
Eocene to Present [cite journal
last = Sepkoski
first = Jack
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = A compendium of fossil marine animal genera
journal = Bulletins of American Paleontology
volume = 364
issue =
pages = p.560
publisher =
location =
date = 2002
url = http://strata.ummp.lsa.umich.edu/jack/showgenera.php?taxon=611&rank=class
doi =
id =
accessdate = 01/08/08 ]
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Lophiiformes
familia = Brachionichthyidae
genus = "Brachionichthys"
genus_authority = Bleeker, 1855
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = See text.

Handfishes are anglerfishes in the genus "Brachionichthys", the only genus in the family Brachionichthyidae. [FishBase family | family = Brachionichthyidae | month = February | year = 2006] [FishBase genus | genus = Brachionichthys | month = February | year = 2006]

They are small (up to 15 cm) bottom-dwelling marine fishes found in coastal waters of southern Australia and Tasmania. Their skin is covered with denticles (tooth-like scales), giving them the name warty anglers.

They use their pectoral fins to walk about on the sea floor. These highly modified fins have the appearance of hands, hence their scientific name, from Latin "bracchium" meaning "arm" and Greek "ichthys" meaning "fish".

Like other anglerfishes, they possess an illicium, a modified dorsal fin ray above the mouth, but it is short and does not appear to be used as a fishing lure. The second dorsal spine is joined to the third by a flap of skin, making a crest. [cite web | url = http://tolweb.org/Brachionichthys/21996 | author = Theodore W. Pietsch | title = Brachionichthyidae | publisher = Tree of Life web project | year = 2005 | accessdate = 4 April | accessyear = 2006]

Species

There are five species:
* "Brachionichthys australis" Last, Gledhill & Holmes, 2007. [cite journal | author = Last, Gledhill & Holmes | title = A new handfish, "Brachionichthys australis" sp. nov. (Lophiiformes:Brachionichthyidae), with a redescription of the critically endangered spotted handfish, "B. hirsutus" (Lacepède) | date = 2007-12-19 | journal = Zootaxa | volume = 1666 |pages = 53–68 | url = http://mapress.com/zootaxa/2007f/z01666p068f.pdf]
* Spotted handfish, "Brachionichthys hirsutus" (Lacépède, 1804).
* Red handfish, "Brachionichthys politus" (Richardson, 1844).
* "Brachionichthys unipennis" (Cuvier, 1817).
* "Brachionichthys verrucosus" (McCulloch & Waite, 1918).

References


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  • handfish — noun anglerfishes of the Brachionichthys genus and the Brachionichthyidae family, which can walk on the sea floor using their pectoral fins …   Wiktionary

  • handfish — I. ˈ ̷ ̷ˌ ̷ ̷ noun Etymology: hand (I) + fish (n.); from the pectoral fins that resemble hands : a fish of the family Brachionichthyidae II. ˈ ̷ ̷| ̷ ̷ intransitive verb …   Useful english dictionary

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